Assessing student learning can be exceedingly challenging considering that as faculty we never really know what a student knows prior to entering our classroom and what value-added material has been assimilated during...Assessing student learning can be exceedingly challenging considering that as faculty we never really know what a student knows prior to entering our classroom and what value-added material has been assimilated during the academic quarter. This research paper introduces a self-assessment instrument that focuses on ten major finance topics and reports the results of the administration of the self-assessment tool for finance education at the undergraduate and graduate level in courses taught in the United States and abroad. Ten topics of importance to most finance curriculum design were selected as the focus topics. The research methodology employed uses a pre-/post- test comparison with ＂understanding＂ being measured on a five-point Lichert scale as implemented in five different fmanee courses. Significant measurable differences occurred in each of the courses using this finance assessment instrument with overall average improvement of understanding by the students as much as one entire point. For exarnple, 1.5 mean score for the pre-test and 2.4 mean score for the post -test for an introductory finance class at the undergraduate level in a college of business. Additional improvements were assessed in each of the courses surveyed.展开更多
In the modern times, the professional development of teachers is a hot topic among the educational world. Facilitating the professional development of teachers is one of a most important way to improve the teachers＇ ...In the modern times, the professional development of teachers is a hot topic among the educational world. Facilitating the professional development of teachers is one of a most important way to improve the teachers＇ personalities. However, how to facilitate the professional development of the novice English teacher in the secondary school is still a big and headache problem in front of all education managers and all novice English teachers. For this reason, it has a huge practical significance to look for some ways to research the professional development of the novice English teachers in secondary school. The objective of this research is to promote the professional development of novice English teachers in secondary school through a wide range of ways. It also aims to promote the whole personalities of all English teachers and the whole English teaching qualities. This paper wiU research in how to promote and facilitate the professional development of the novice English teachers in secondary school from the parts of country, school and teachers. Specificly speaking, from the perspective of country, it contains the way of some short trains for novice teachers from superior educational department and some educational action research; From the perspective of the secondary school, it includes school-based in-service training, the exploitation of school-based curriculum and learning team; From the perspective of teacher themselves, it includes teaching reflection, observing other teachers＇ class and using micro-teaching to promote teachers＇ teaching skills.展开更多
The ability to employ the language as a communicational tool often serves as a measure of one＇s speaking success in the language learning class. This research sought to investigate the effect of learners＇ autonomous...The ability to employ the language as a communicational tool often serves as a measure of one＇s speaking success in the language learning class. This research sought to investigate the effect of learners＇ autonomous textbook selection on the speaking ability of Iranian English as foreign language （EFL） learners. Moreover, finding and analyzing factors considered by the learners in selecting the textbooks were another aim of this research. Sixty Iranian intermediate EFL learners from the Simin Language Institute in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran, were selected as the participants of the study based on their scores on Oxford Placement Test. This test determines the level of the students＇ English proficiency. These participants were randomly assigned into the control and experimental groups. An interview procedure was run as their pretest. The experimental group studied from their selected books, besides the researcher＇s teaching in the class. After 16 sessions, a posttest, the same as the pretest, was run as well. The quantitative results indicated the superior performance of the experimental group over the control group. Furthermore, an analysis of the Litz＇s （2000） questionnaire shows that learners considered criteria such as practical considerations, layout and design, activities, skills, language type, subject and content of the selected books.展开更多
文摘Assessing student learning can be exceedingly challenging considering that as faculty we never really know what a student knows prior to entering our classroom and what value-added material has been assimilated during the academic quarter. This research paper introduces a self-assessment instrument that focuses on ten major finance topics and reports the results of the administration of the self-assessment tool for finance education at the undergraduate and graduate level in courses taught in the United States and abroad. Ten topics of importance to most finance curriculum design were selected as the focus topics. The research methodology employed uses a pre-/post- test comparison with ＂understanding＂ being measured on a five-point Lichert scale as implemented in five different fmanee courses. Significant measurable differences occurred in each of the courses using this finance assessment instrument with overall average improvement of understanding by the students as much as one entire point. For exarnple, 1.5 mean score for the pre-test and 2.4 mean score for the post -test for an introductory finance class at the undergraduate level in a college of business. Additional improvements were assessed in each of the courses surveyed.
文摘In the modern times, the professional development of teachers is a hot topic among the educational world. Facilitating the professional development of teachers is one of a most important way to improve the teachers＇ personalities. However, how to facilitate the professional development of the novice English teacher in the secondary school is still a big and headache problem in front of all education managers and all novice English teachers. For this reason, it has a huge practical significance to look for some ways to research the professional development of the novice English teachers in secondary school. The objective of this research is to promote the professional development of novice English teachers in secondary school through a wide range of ways. It also aims to promote the whole personalities of all English teachers and the whole English teaching qualities. This paper wiU research in how to promote and facilitate the professional development of the novice English teachers in secondary school from the parts of country, school and teachers. Specificly speaking, from the perspective of country, it contains the way of some short trains for novice teachers from superior educational department and some educational action research; From the perspective of the secondary school, it includes school-based in-service training, the exploitation of school-based curriculum and learning team; From the perspective of teacher themselves, it includes teaching reflection, observing other teachers＇ class and using micro-teaching to promote teachers＇ teaching skills.
文摘The ability to employ the language as a communicational tool often serves as a measure of one＇s speaking success in the language learning class. This research sought to investigate the effect of learners＇ autonomous textbook selection on the speaking ability of Iranian English as foreign language （EFL） learners. Moreover, finding and analyzing factors considered by the learners in selecting the textbooks were another aim of this research. Sixty Iranian intermediate EFL learners from the Simin Language Institute in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran, were selected as the participants of the study based on their scores on Oxford Placement Test. This test determines the level of the students＇ English proficiency. These participants were randomly assigned into the control and experimental groups. An interview procedure was run as their pretest. The experimental group studied from their selected books, besides the researcher＇s teaching in the class. After 16 sessions, a posttest, the same as the pretest, was run as well. The quantitative results indicated the superior performance of the experimental group over the control group. Furthermore, an analysis of the Litz＇s （2000） questionnaire shows that learners considered criteria such as practical considerations, layout and design, activities, skills, language type, subject and content of the selected books.
